[13] “Athenæum,” for March 12, 1859, p. 350.
[14] Testimonies to the Supernatural amongst Christian writers are abundant. The following may be instanced as a few concerning such events, both in the second and third centuries:—Justin Martyr, Ap. ii. cap. vi.; Dial. cum Tryph. cap. xxxix. and lxxxii.; Irenæus, ii. 31 and v. 6; Tertullian “Apolog.” cap. 23, 27, 32, 37; “Origen against Celsus,” book i. p. 7 and book vii. pp. 334-335, Ed. Spencer; Dionysius of Alexandria, in “Eccl. Hist.” of Eusebius, vi. 40; Minucius Felix Octav. p. 361, Ed. Paris, 1605; S. Cyprian, “De Idol. Vanit.” p. 14.
[15] S. John xiv. 12.
[16] “Hist. Eccles.” cap. v. Chronicon. p. 82.
[17] The following version by Dio. Cassius, translated from the “Annals” of Baronius, affords no slender testimony to the account by Eusebius given in the text:—“When the barbarians would not give them battle, in hopes of their perishing by heat and thirst, since they had so surrounded them that they had no possible means of getting water; and when they were in the utmost distress from sickness, wounds, sun, and thirst, and could neither fight nor retreat, but remained in order of battle and at their posts in this parched condition, suddenly clouds gathered, and a copious rainfall, not without the mercy of God. And when it first began to fall, the Romans, raising their mouths towards heaven, received it upon them; next, turning up their shields and helmets, they drank largely out of them, and gave to their horses. And when the barbarians charged them, they drank as they fought, and numbers of them were wounded.... And while they were thus incurring heavy loss from the assault of the enemy, because most of them were engaged in drinking, a violent hailstorm and much lightning were discharged upon the enemy. And thus water and fire might be seen in the same place falling from heaven, that some might drink refreshment and others be burnt to death.”—Dion. Cass. “Hist.” lxxi. p. 805.
[18] The treatise of Apollinaris, it should be added, is lost; and there seems to be some ground for believing that a particular Legion bore the name “Thundering” as far back as the days of Augustus. This latter assertion, however, even if proved, cannot set aside the leading facts recorded in the text.
[19] “Life of Marcus Antonius,” chap. xxiv.
[20] “Historia Romana,” lxi. 8.
[21] Mosheim’s “Ecclesiastical History” (Ed. Stubbs), vol. i. pp. 99-101. London, 1863.
[22] “Two Essays on Scripture Miracles and on Ecclesiastical,” by J. H. Newman, pp. 273-4, Second Edition. London, 1870.